Differences between Toshiba HD-A30 and HD-A35 (1 Viewer)

[KeithHob]

I have been looking to make the leap into HD-DVD recently and I have narrowed my choice between the HD-A30 and HD-A35. I am wondering what the big difference is between the 2. I have compared the specs and apart from the 5.1 analog outputs on the back and the Deep Color Support through HDMI on the A35, there doesn't appear to be much difference. Is there a major difference in the image quality between the 2?

Thanks for any input on this.

Keith

 

[Jeff Gatie]

The major difference is the A35 can pass HD audio as raw bitstream. All other HD DVD players have to decode HD audio on board and then send it via LPCM. In order to take advantage of the A35, you need a HDMI 1.3 receiver with decoding of HD audio support.

Now, whether this is an advantage or not depends on how much you want the "TrueHD" light to light on your fancy new receiver, because theoretically, there should be no real difference between decoding in the player vs. decoding in the receiver. Also note, the A35 may be the only way to get actual DTS-HD Master Audio decoding, because no players decode DTS-HD MA. Since the A35 sends it via bitstream, the decoding of Master Audio is up to the receiver.

 

[KeithHob]

Thank you for your reply, Jeff.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

No problem.

Just as an update, Firmware V2.7 for the XA2 was just released and it seems to enable the XA2 to pass HD audio as bitstream via HDMI, same as the A35. The XA2 is also considered the best upconverter of any HD DVD player and Toshiba still considers it the flagship of the line. It can be had for less money than the A35 if you shop around.

 

[Southpaw]

I'd like to know where because the best I can find is the XA2 being about $100 more than the A35.